Santa Cruz: PADI Certified

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Days 76 & 77 – Sunday 4th & Monday 5th December 2005

In order to gain my scuba diving accreditation from PADI I needed to complete 4 dives, whilst carrying out a viariety of different skills on each dive. I wont bore you with what these were, but suffice to say none of these were particuarly difficult. Call me cynical but PADI are a profit making organisation, and it would not be in their best interests to make the course overly challenging (especially at such a basic entry level), as they would not gain revenue by making people fail and therefore quit diving.

It is a pretty obvious statement but the Open Water course is more of a way for PADI to make money than anything else. On one hand it is right that there should be training before you can dive as it is a potentially dangerous sport and there are important safety aspects to consider before you strap a tank of air to your back and sink to the bottom of a lake. On the other hand, PADI have made obtaining one of their qualifications virtually compulsory for all people before they are allowed to dive. They boast that they are bigger than all the other ‘scuba diving organisations’ combined, and as a result they can virtually dicate their wishes to the scuba diving world, including new divers, forcing them to take a course made up of virtually all common sense rather than anything else. Thus with my ‘skills’ perfected and my wallet emptied, I completed my 4 dives and gained my Open Water accreditation.

On a different note, probably the best part of the entire course for me was fortune to be (a) learning with, and (b) learning from two busty blonde chicks, one Dutch and one Danish. Therefore as well as seeing some marine life, I could look forward to the beginning and end of each dive, when I got to see both of them squeezing in and out of their wetsuits. It is pretty obvious but I enjoyed that part of the course immensely. My only regret is I didn’t manage to get a picture of the three of us.

On the dives I saw a variety of things. It wasn’t a coral reef and there wern’t an abundance of tropical fish, but I did see some fish, crabs, volcanic rock formations, underwater trees and I also plunged my hand into hot volcanic mud. Which was nice. although the visibility wasn’t that great (about 5m), it was a good place to learn. As well as there being good eye candy, the people were friendly, the teaching was clear and conducted in a safe and professional manner, and all the equipment was good.

Therefore despite not really thinking much of the PADI course, it is a necessity, and as such I would recommend anyone wishing to learn in this part of the world to learn with ATI Divers in Santa Cruz on Lake Atitlan. The tuition is good, the price is right and the location is superb.

WARNING!!!!! When you stay at the Iguana, everything is put on the slate and you don’t pay a penny until you leave. I think thats a pretty cool way to run things, you just gotta keep an eye on that bar tab!